


Choosing Sides

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Series: Coming Around [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Accidental Self-Deprecation, Cuddling & Snuggling, Enemies to Friends to OwO what’s this?, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Pre-Calamity Ganon, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Self-Doubt, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000, no beta we die like men, the start of something more™, unhealthy thought processes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22375723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: Revali doesn’t like Link.
Relationships: Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Coming Around [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1632586
Comments: 19
Kudos: 369





	Choosing Sides

**Author's Note:**

> Some things to consider! 
> 
> 1) While there is no in-story violence, there is mention of a previous injury sustained by Link and the scars that take their toll on him.  
> 2) A headcanon that’s not necessarily important to this fic but that’s important to me: Everyone knows sign language in the BotW universe! Why? Just because! It’s a second language that everyone learns growing up! (Specifically, I’ve used reference to ASL in this fic, because I’m a dirty American lad.)  
> 3) Revali has unhealthy thinking habits. They’re not “triggering” per se, but they’re a mild spiral, so take care of yourself and read at your own discretion

“What are you _doing_?” 

Link throws him a surprised look, but Revali is much more concerned with the way Link’s stupid golden hair seems to be glowing in the dim light from the half-moon above them. The fire has long-since gone out, leaving nothing but glowing embers in its wake. 

Revali hasn’t slept properly in days, but he isn’t about to alert anyone else to his discomfort. They have more important things to worry about, as much as Revali hates to admit it. Besides, the last thing he wants is for anyone to think that he’s _weak._

Link puts his sword point-down in the dry dirt below their feet, leaning it against his hip to free his hands. _Training,_ he signs. His brow furrows slightly. _What are you doing?_

“Walking,” Revali snips imperiously on instinct. “Is that allowed here, oh ye high and mighty Knight?” He regrets it a little, especially when Link’s face falls and then shutters hard, but he can’t take the words back now that they’re out in the air between them. 

He doesn’t mean to sound so… _mean_ , around Link. At first, it was his wounded pride leading his beak. A Rito Warrior, getting shown up by a mere Hylian? It was unheard of, and while Revali would be forever grateful for his position as a Champion, he would also be forever jealous that he was not the most important member of their party. 

They all fought well together, but outside of battle, Link kept to himself. He seemed to limit his interactions with them to Zelda and Zelda alone, whether intentionally or not. He was never outright rude to any of the others, but it always struck Revali as _odd_ that he didn’t ever seek them out individually. 

_You don’t need my permission,_ Link signs to him. His features twitch in a valiant effort to show some sort of emotion, but he ultimately stays impassive as he picks up his sword again. 

“I’ll try and stay out of your way, _Master Link,”_ Revali bites out, turning on his heel. He isn’t sure where he’s going, but anywhere is better than here, where the sturdiness of Link’s stance belies the power in his small body. Just the thought of it electrifies something inside of him, and Revali tries to banish it quickly, lest it take root in his chest and sprout. 

He gets two steps away before a harsh, strained whisper cuts through the air. _“What did I ever do to you?”_

Without thinking, Revali spins around again so fast he nearly loses his footing. His wings shoot out so that he can steady himself, and his feathers ruffle uncomfortably as the shock hits him. 

Link is clutching his sword so tightly that his white knuckles are visible in the moonlight, and his face is somehow both pained and determined. 

“Did you just—?” Revali begins, but Link —Link! Silent Link! _—_ interrupts him. 

“What is your _problem_ with me?” His voice is raspy and thick from disuse, and it never rises above a whisper. “We’re a _team._ We’re on the same side. Everyone else—“ A spasm crosses his face, and he drops the tip of the sword back into the ground, leaning on it. He sounds like he’s panting when he continues, “—has managed to form a bond. Why are you so determined to—“ Abruptly, he chokes and cuts himself off, and Revali can only watch in barely-concealed horror as Link drops his sword altogether and reaches with both hands to clutch at his throat. 

Revali takes a hesitant step towards him. “...I didn’t know you could speak,” he says dumbly. The fight has gone out of him for the moment, abandoned in the revelation that Link has just deigned to speak aloud. And not only to speak, but to speak to _him,_ of all people. 

_Injury,_ Link signs awkwardly, gracelessly, rubbing his throat in between signs. His eyes are clenched shut. _Never healed right._

Revali can’t be sure, mostly because he is unused to Hylians and their delicate anatomy, but he’s almost sure that Link looks paler than he had been when Revali had first stumbled upon him. He takes another step forward. 

Link’s eyes twitch, and then he seems to force them open. Set in a feverish brightness against his abnormally light skin, he stares at Revali like he’s waiting for something. 

Revali stares back. When he opens his beak, he has no idea what he’s about to say, but he lets it happen regardless. 

“I hate the idea of you,” he admits, surprising both himself and Link with the truth. His feathers droop, just a little, and he doesn’t have the energy to fluff them back up. “You’re a _Hylian,_ but you’re— you’re the One. You’re the Princess’ appointed Knight. You’re—“ His voice cracks. He looks away, down at the ground, up at the sky. Anywhere to avoid that gaze, as bright as the sun and just as scorching. “You’re better than I am, and that makes me weak. I can’t— I refuse to be weak, Link. I can’t be weak.”

“ _Revali,”_ Link whispers. Revali’s head jerks up without his permission. Link is clutching his throat with one hand, rubbing it with trembling fingers, but his lips turn upward in a tumultuous smile. He puts one finger up on his other hand, signalling for Revali to wait for him to continue. It’s all Revali can do to watch him, transfixed, until Link finally raises both hands to sign, _We all have our strengths. We all have our weaknesses. That’s why we’re here. None of us can face what’s coming alone. You_ can _be weak, because in your weakness, you’ll find someone else with a strength you lack. And that’s okay._

Revali wants to scoff, wants to stumble backwards and gather up any dignity he has left and hide in the trees around them until he can breathe again. But Link takes a step forward this time, putting a frighteningly small amount of space between them, and Revali finds himself holding his breath and holding Link’s gaze, searching for _something_ behind his eyes. 

Link’s smile grows a little more sure, though his features don’t lose their pained, feverish quality. _You’re short with the others, but you have a particular loathing for me. All I want to do is be on your side, Revali._ He uses Revali’s name sign, the word _bird_ with an R to form the beak. That same electrifying warmth floods back into Revali’s chest and plants itself without his permission. _Will you let me?_

For a long moment, Revali genuinely doesn’t have an answer. For the first time since his first meeting with Princess Zelda’s aloof Knight, he feels… _cared for,_ which is more than he’d ever expected to feel from Link based on his casually careful demeanour. The subsequent relief is _dizzying_ in its intensity. 

For all of his callousness, Revali has never until this moment considered how much he just wants Link to _like_ him. 

Revali reaches out, brushing two feathers as lightly as he can against Link’s abused throat. He can’t see any scarring in the dark of the night, and he’s never looked for it before, but now, he desperately wonders if it’s there, and what it looks like. He wants to know what happened, but he doesn’t want to ask. 

Another time, perhaps.

For now, Link’s eyes slam shut, and he tilts his head back, baring his neck further to Revali’s questing touch. Revali presses his feathers against his skin carefully, applying only the barest hint of pressure, and feels rather than hears Link’s soft sigh in response.

“Don’t think this changes anything,” Revali whispers. He ignores the way his voice is shaking. One of Link’s hands reaches out, groping blindly until he’s found Revali’s wing. He curls his fingers into the feathers, squeezing gently. “I still— I still don’t like you.”

Link’s free hand comes up, trapping his curious feathers. When he opens his eyes, they have finally lost their bright, feverish glint. In the softness of the moonlight, he just looks _sleepy._

“I still don’t like you,” Revali repeats, barely audible. Link smiles a tiny, fond smile and shakes his head. He dislodges his hands from Revali’s feathers. 

_We should get some rest._

A pang of anxiety strikes, upsetting the seeds of warmth taking root in his chest. Revali doesn’t step away, but he wants to, and he tenses, unable to decide what he’s going to do next. 

Link catches his hesitation. Of course he does, he’s _Link._ He studies Revali for all of three seconds and then reaches for him again, curling his fingers back against his wingtip. 

He gestures with his other hand towards the tents, an impromptu _come with me_ that Revali doesn’t know how to refuse. So he follows, instead, as Link gives his wing a gentle tug. 

Link only pauses to scoop up his sword and then again to set it gently outside of his tent. Another unsettling wave of unsurety passes over him, but it’s short-lived, because Link doesn’t let go of his feathers as he stoops to enter the tent. 

“Wait, what are you—?” Revali begins to ask, hissing the question with about a tenth of his normal spite. Link quells him with one look and squeezes his wingtip reassuringly. 

Revali enters Link’s tent. 

It’s warmer inside, but not uncomfortably so. Link pushes Revali down onto the bedroll, and Revali has no choice but to acquiesce. The tent is only made for one person; there’s hardly enough room for them to move about inside. 

Somehow, Link manages, because he strips out of his armour in a manner so practised that Revali is uncomfortably impressed. Left in only his light underclothes, he looks over at Revali in the near-darkness. _You can leave if you want to, but I know I sleep better with someone else beside me._

It’s both a question and not, because there is absolutely no way Revali can resist such a tempting offer. Any remaining anxiety has fled his system, leaving behind only sheer, overwhelming exhaustion in its wake. 

Revali doesn’t say a word, but he lies down on the bedroll and shifts over just enough for Link to join him. He can’t really see, but he thinks Link smiles. 

Seconds later, Link joins him, burrowing immediately against his feathers and tucking his face against the side of Revali’s neck. Revali wants to complain, just a little, but the utter _comfort_ such a simple thing provides him keeps his beak firmly shut on the matter. 

He wants to thank Link, too, but he doesn’t know how to do it without sounding _weak,_ so he doesn’t say that, either. Instead, he wraps one wing around him —Hylians, he’s been told, get stupidly cold without quilts or blankets at night, and Link’s is currently trapped beneath their bodies on the bedroll— to keep him from getting chilled during his sleep, and closes his eyes pointedly. 

He can feel Link’s smile against his feathers as his fingers curl softly into the fluff of his chest, so he thinks, just maybe, that Link understands anyways.

**Author's Note:**

> 4) I don’t know if I should have tagged this as mute or selectively mute (obviously, I went with the latter) because while Link can _technically_ speak aloud here, it pains him a great deal to do so. 
> 
> Kudos/comments are love! Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans.


End file.
